Jonathan pledges women, youth empowerment

• Charges varsities on researches

• ‘Buhari will tackle indiscipline in public service’

• WAEC Ghana office asks Lagos to confirm his certificate

• Coalition lauds Sambo’s performance at debate

PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan Wednesday in Benin City, Edo State capital, promised more empowerment to women and youths if he is elected for a second term.

  Speaking at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin City, the President said what the country needed was transformation and not change, saying: “If a man moves from his bedroom to his sitting room, he has changed his position but not transformed.”

  He said that his administration in the history of Nigeria has given the greatest opportunities to women and youths to express themselves.

  Also, President Jonathan has called on universities in Nigeria to widen their scope of research to areas that will fast-track the developmental quest of the country.

  The President, who made this call during the 44th convocation of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), said that there is need for Nigerian universities to broaden the scope of their professional concerns so as to bring out innovative means of teaching to help push the country towards competing favourably with other advanced countries.

  President Jonathan, who was represented at the occasion by the Minister of Education, Malam Ibrahim Sherakau, urged the varsities to keenly focus in the areas of scientific and technological development so as to aid the mechanisation and automation of processes in all production sector of the country.

  Meanwhile, Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Amaechi, has expressed optimism that the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, will instill discipline and uprightness on corrupt public officials in the country if he elected.

  Amaechi, who is also the Director-General of Buhari Campaign Organisation, stated this yesterday when he performed the swearing in of nine new permanent secretaries at the Council Chambers of Government House, Port Harcourt.

  He said: “We were sharing some discussions in the bus in the cause of our campaign.  The President and the PDP never knew that there will be a time like this in Nigeria when Nigerians will be asking for change, not because of APC or Amaechi but because they are tired of what is going on. 

  “In the same manner, the civil servants and Nigeria cannot continue to be the way it is going.  So, if you think you would continue to collect money and continue to do things the way you like, one day you will just wake up and consider that people will start chasing you around and you will be wondering why you are being chased.” 

  “Don’t be one of those permanent secretaries that history will have on the wrong side of the society. If you don’t want to serve, please resign because it comes with challenges. Just imagine the days when J. E. Amadi was a permanent secretary, now permanent secretaries have houses everywhere, estates they have built for themselves and busy sharing money. You better change because the Buhari’s government will force change on everybody.”

  In another development, Head of Public Affairs, West African Examination Council (WAEC), Ghana National Office, Mrs. Agnes Teye-Cudjoe, in response to a letter written to her office by a civil society organisation, MoveOn Nigeria, demanding for the certified true copy of Buhari’s certificate, has said that it is the responsibility of Nigerian National Office of WAEC to confirm and verify the examination records of Mohamed Buhari since he sat for the said examination at Provincial Secondary School in Katsina.

 She said: “Though our response that the certified true copy of the examination records of Mohamed Buhari could not be provided from the Ghana National Office was correct, it was not intended to indicate the existence or otherwise of the candidate’s examination records, or to foreclose further search by the enquirer at a more appropriate location within the Council.

  “WAEC is a sub-regional organisation established in 1952 with a tripartite mandate to identify the examinations required in the public interest in the English-speaking West African countries, to conduct the examinations and to award certificate of international standard to deserving candidates. The Council’s information storage and retrieval system is highly decentralised, as records of candidates who sat the Council’s examination in a particular country are kept in the country’s National Office.

  “In the case of Mohamed Buhari therefore, it was impossible for the Ghana National Office to make available certified true copy of his examination records, since his school or examination centre falls within the jurisdiction of the Nigeria National Office. Therefore, the Nigeria National Office is the appropriate National Office of WAEC to confirm or verify the examination recorded of Buhari.”

 Besides, a coalition of civil society organisations, under the aegis of Nigerian Voters Initiative, has lauded the performance of Vice President Namadi Sambo at the election debate for vice presidential candidates organised by the Nigeria Election Debate Group (NEDG).

 Chairman of the coalition, Dr. Gabriel Nwambu, who disclosed this at a press conference yesterday in Abuja, said Sambo was “well articulated” while coherently highlighting the achievements of the present administration. 

  “He (Sambo) engaged the audience in a constructive dialogue on the Nigerian Economy, dwindling oil price, power (electricity) and so one.

  In his speech, Vice President Namadi Sambo said the administration had already signed a contractual agreement to build a coastal rail from Lagos to Calabar. He urged the people to continue to vote for Jonathan and the PDP, adding that Jonathan remained one of the most educated persons in the world and eminently qualified to govern Nigeria. He said no administration in the history of Nigeria has given opportunities to younger Nigerians like Jonathan’s administration.

  However, the PDP National Chairman, Adamu Mu’azu, said he was overwhelmed with the turnout of supporters of the party at the rally while Chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT) of the party, Chief Tony Anenih, said “seeing is believing, you have come, you have seen and I believe you are impressed. One thing is certain, the people will not vote for tyranny, the people will not vote for those who do not support humanity, I want to tell you that all the states of the South-South will vote for you.”

   Also, in his welcome address, state chairman of the PDP, Chief Dan Orbih, said he was sure the PDP would get more than 80 per cent of votes from the state.

   He said: “I watched with disgust when the APC governor of the state said PDP will not get up to 10 per cent of votes from this state, but from what you are seeing today, I am sure that we will get over 80 per cent of votes in Edo State.”